Time for another post.

Back to Kyoto :)

Day 4:

The day started out with a trip to Heian shrine for the opening and blessing.



I figured that the participants would stand in the outer courtyard while the Sensei who where part of the ceremony would be inside the shrine. I was wrong. When we got there, we all filed into the inner courtyard where seating had been arranged. We then were privileged to be part of the ceremony and to be blessed by the priest. This is a pretty big deal. The only ones other than the priests and attendants who are allowed there are worshipers for special ceremonies.

After that came Enbu. I could take all day to write up the highlights. But I'll be brief here. It started with us taking our place in the Butokuden. Sosai (the Prince, and yes I do mean Royal family) started out the ceremony and was followed by a couple of other short speeches. Then came the opening performances to chase away then Demons.

At this point we exited the hall as a group (just JKI) and reentered in the back. We were the first group to participate in the Taikai. It was a great honor to be the first. I couldn't see it, but I was told we did extremely well.

From there we went back to our seats and sat quietly while the rest of the 600 participants performed as well. Guys, It was incredible. The level of most of the groups was astounding. We saw Iai, Aikido, Karate, Judo, Juijutsu, Aikijutsu, Jodo and more. I can't even begin to name all of the styles, much less their Ryu. It was humbling as well. I saw Budo that puts mine to shame. I now have an idea how little I really know about budo, and how far I'll always have to go.

We continued from around 9am until around 3:30 with a short break for lunch. After we closed for the day we scurried back to the hotel for a quick change and went to our second dinner. It was much more casual than Last nights.

Oh, I see I forgot about to tell you about that. I'll correct that tonight :)

Dinner was a 7 course meal served as a single dish to be passed around. Kind of like a Chinese restaurant, but a bit more formal. The menus from all of the banquets blurs a bit so I can't remember the menu. But I do remember that they all were excellent.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post again tonight after we get to Takayama. Oh,before I forget. We have a view of Mt Fuji from our hotel window here in Shin-Fuji. It's shrouded by clouds at the top today, but we got to see it yesterday through the light haze.

See you all tonight.

Finally...

Hi-tech again. I'm not fixing the last post. I was in the middle of typing, on a Japanese keyboard, on a pay computer, when my time ran out. That was a bit frustrating. I'm in a country where the electronics are 5-7 years ahead of ours and my hotel has 2 pay computers in the lobby. And that's it. There was also no easy access to a WiFi spot. However that looks to change now that we're on the road. I'll add pictures as I get them edited and posted on Flickr.

BTW, it's good to hear from you all :)

So where should I start. Ah, back in Fushimi-Inari shrine. If you saw memoirs of a Geisha. There was a scene where the lead actress is running through a series of Tori (or gates). That is what the paths in the shrine where like. It was pretty awesome.





That evening we met those who made it in. As always there was a problem. It seems that Lori's bag was mistakenly grabbed by another passenger. She finally got it back and everyone arrived safe. Dinner was at an Okonomiyaki bar in a subsurface mall. Good food and a good start to the week.

Day 1 of the 3rd World Butokusai:

It consisted of major organizing and set up for Enbu and Taikai. Mostly learning where when and what to do to make things flow well. All that practice really paid off in the end. The best part was that we got to practice in the Butokuden (really cool). To put it in perspective a bit. Every Grandmaster of our style since Oe Masamichi has either trained or taught there. The Emperor of Japan has been there. The place is steeped in history. The floor is so worn that the grain from the pine boards stands out and is polished smooth. It was incredible.

After the training day ended we went to dinner W/Carl Sensei and Shima Sensei at a Yakitori place and talked about the history of the DNBK and the Butokuden.

Day 2:

We started the morning by lining up by school. This was to become a common ritual for us :)
For most of the morning we had open floor practice. Unfortunately for me I had forgotten both my obi and knee pads. The lack of kneepads means that my knees are in pretty bad shape at the moment.
After lunch we set up mats. Imagine 600+ Budoka each grabbing a 3'x5'x4" mat and laying it out in a HUGE training hall. It was an interesting exercise in chaos theory and team building. All together it took about 12 minutes.
As a surprise we were given our first certification test in a side hall at the start of the afternoon training session. This was also a practice for our Enbu in the Butokuden.

I think I need to clarify something here. The place we were at is the Kyoto Budo center. We did our practice in the main Budo hall. Basically a huge Gym floor. The Butokuden is a large wooden structure just outside the training hall. General practice and such is not allowed in the Butokuden. Kind of like playing football in a Cathedral. Other training facilities include a Sumo stable and a Kyudo area. The whole center is also a part of Heian shrine.

That evening Mark, Lori, Karen and I went to a Hiroshimayaki place in a side alley near the Teramatchi shopping district. Very good food. And there was a lot of it.

Day 3:

This was our seminar day. Erik, Mark, Ron, Brandon and I took Hoki Ryu with Kumai Sensei. He spoke only Italian and Japanese. It was still a really good class. I don't know how much I'll retain. Since the afternoon was for Judo and Jiujutsu some of us went to Heian shrine in our monsuki.



While we were gone there was an accident. One of the French participants was doing Jiujutsu and had a series of 3 heart attacks. Luckily one of the Senseis was an EMT. They worked on the gent for nearly 30 minutes. We later found out that he was clinically dead for about 20 minutes. The last night we were informed that he had woken up and was able to write. Good news :)

For dinner a bunch of us went to the Teramatchi and wandered around until we found a place. The highlight of the evening was the Colonel in an Ebi hat!



Well, it's late and I still have photos to screen. I'll post more tomorrow.